I won a claim in small claims for $2405. The defendant submitted a counter-claim and won $205. I received two separate letters in the mail, one for each claim.
Must I send the $205 to her for the counter-claim regardless of whether she pays the $2405? If she owes me money, why would I pay her?
Information for the jurisdiction of San Francisco, California is most desirable.
You can offset the amount but you must go to court to do it. The court can then grant you an offset. This document from a law office describes the details.
The risk you run if you do not pay and do not do this properly is that she, with a valid judgement in her hand, can take enforcement action including garnishee of bank accounts and seizure of property (of course, you can do the same to her).
